Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell Remembered
Wednesday, 15th May 2019
HRH Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Lady Ogilvy, attended a Service to commemorate the life of Florence Nightingale and to mark the centenary of the funeral of Edith Cavell at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday 15th May 2019.
The service is held annually to celebrate nursing and midwifery and all staff, both qualified and unqualified, and the importance of supporting one another through challenging times.
The service was conducted by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, who said in his Bidding:
We come into the presence of almighty God to offer our worship, praise and thanksgiving. In particular, we thank God for Florence Nightingale; for her enterprise and heroism, and for the example she has left us.
We pray that her ideals of compassion, quality of care, and training may continue to inspire and sustain nurses everywhere. We praise God for all those nurses who, like her, have carried the lamp of healing into the dark places of our world.
Let us prepare to hear and receive God’s holy word and to bring before God the needs of our world. Let us remember with pride the vocation we have each received, and prepare to dedicate ourselves anew to the service of all in need.
Dr Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England, read Solomon 8: 6-7; and Jackie Kelly, Dean of School, School of Health and Social Work, University of Hertfordshire, read St Mark 10: 35-45.
The Address was given by the Very Reverend Dr Jane Hedges, Dean of Norwich.
